Omalizumab, an Anti-IgE mAb, Receives Approval for the Treatment of Chronic Idiopathic/Spontaneous Urticaria

Omalizumab, an anti-IgE mAb, has recently been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the treatment of chronic idiopathic urticaria. Saini et al. (2014) (this issue) report on ASTERIA I, a 40-week randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled phase III trial evaluating omalizumab for the treatment of this disease

Hybrids and inbred lines of silkworm (Lepidoptera: Bombyx mori L.): preliminary productive results

TIn Argentina sericulture is a new activity and is carried out by small producers as a complementary activity. The use of hybrid vigor in the silk production is used in several developed countries and the productivity and the quality depend on the hybrid involved. The objective of this work is to evaluate, in a preliminary way, some productive features of hybrids derived from inbred lines from the Faculty of Agronomy of the University of Buenos Aires. Were used four inbred and six crosses between them were bred in controlled conditions of temperature and humidity. Were fed four times a day with fresh mulberry leaves. In a 20 individuals sample four quantitative variables were measured: larval weight in the 5th stage, whole cocoon weight, cocoon without pupa weight and cocoon length. Significant differences between the means of the 10 genotypes for all the variables analyzed were detected. The crosses have shown different results depending on the crossing and the studied character. The overall result is that the hybrids productivity in these preliminary trials shows the superiority of some crosses over others and over the inbred lines.Fil: Basso, C.P. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Métodos Cuantitativos y Sistemas de Información. Cátedra de Producciones Animales Alternativas. Buenos Aires, ArgentinaFil: Dobler, S. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Métodos Cuantitativos y Sistemas de Información. Cátedra de Producciones Animales Alternativas. Buenos Aires, ArgentinaFil: Lopez Zieher, X. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Métodos Cuantitativos y Sistemas de Información. Cátedra de Producciones Animales Alternativas. Buenos Aires, ArgentinaFil: Bartoloni, N. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Métodos Cuantitativos y Sistemas de Información. Cátedra de Producciones Animales Alternativas. Buenos Aires, ArgentinaEn Argentina la sericicultura es una actividad novedosa y es llevada a cabo por pequeños productores como actividad complementaria. La utilización del vigor híbrido en la producción de seda se emplea en la mayoría de los países desarrollados y la productividad y calidad dependen del híbrido involucrado. El objetivo del trabajo es evaluar, en forma preliminar, algunas características productivas de híbridos obtenidos a partir de líneas endocriadas en la Facultad de Agronomía de la Universidad de Buenos Aires. Se utilizaron 4 líneas endocriadas y 6 cruzamientos entre ellas, criadas en condiciones de temperatura y humedad controladas. La alimentación se realizó 4 veces al día con hojas frescas de moreras. En una muestra de 20 individuos, se midieron 4 variables cuantitativas: peso larval en el 5º estadio, peso del capullo entero, peso del capullo sin pupa y largo de capullos. Se detectaron diferencias significativas entre las medias de los 10 genotipos para todas las variables analizadas. Los cruzamientos realizados han exhibido diferentes resultados según el cruzamiento y el carácter estudiado. El resultado general es que la productividad de los híbridos en estas pruebas preliminares muestra la superioridad de determinados cruzamientos sobre otros y sobre las líneas endocriadas

The Volume of some Non-spherical Horizons and the AdS/CFT Correspondence

We calculate the volumes of a large class of Einstein manifolds, namely Sasaki-Einstein manifolds which are the bases of Ricci-flat affine cones described by polynomial embedding relations in C^n. These volumes are important because they allow us to extend and test the AdS/CFT correspondence. We use these volumes to extend the central charge calculation of Gubser (1998) to the generalized conifolds of Gubser, Shatashvili, and Nekrasov (1999). These volumes also allow one to quantize precisely the D-brane flux of the AdS supergravity solution. We end by demonstrating a relationship between the volumes of these Einstein spaces and the number of holomorphic polynomials (which correspond to chiral primary operators in the field theory dual) on the corresponding affine cone.Comment: 25 pp, LaTeX, 1 figure, v2: refs adde

Deformations of conformal theories and non-toric quiver gauge theories

We discuss several examples of non-toric quiver gauge theories dual to Sasaki-Einstein manifolds with U(1)^2 or U(1) isometry. We give a general method for constructing non-toric examples by adding relevant deformations to the toric case. For all examples, we are able to make a complete comparison between the prediction for R-charges based on geometry and on quantum field theory. We also give a general discussion of the spectrum of conformal dimensions for mesonic and baryonic operators for a generic quiver theory; in the toric case we make an explicit comparison between R-charges of mesons and baryons.Comment: 51 pages, 12 figures; minor corrections in appendix B, published versio

Dibaryon Spectroscopy

The AdS/CFT correspondence relates dibaryons in superconformal gauge theories to holomorphic curves in Kaehler-Einstein surfaces. The degree of the holomorphic curves is proportional to the gauge theory conformal dimension of the dibaryons. Moreover, the number of holomorphic curves should match, in an appropriately defined sense, the number of dibaryons. Using AdS/CFT backgrounds built from the generalized conifolds of Gubser, Shatashvili, and Nekrasov (1999), we show that the gauge theory prediction for the dimension of dibaryonic operators does indeed match the degree of the corresponding holomorphic curves. For AdS/CFT backgrounds built from cones over del Pezzo surfaces, we are able to match the degree of the curves to the conformal dimension of dibaryons for the n'th del Pezzo surface, n=1,2,...,6. Also, for the del Pezzos and the A_k type generalized conifolds, for the dibaryons of smallest conformal dimension, we are able to match the number of holomorphic curves with the number of possible dibaryon operators from gauge theory.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures, corrected refs; v3 typos correcte

Computing noncommutative Chern-Simons theory radiative corrections on the back of an envelope

We show that the renormalized U(N) noncommutative Chern-Simons theory can be defined in perturbation theory so that there are no loop corrections to the 1PI functional of the theory in an arbitrary homogeneous axial (time-like, light-like or space-like) gauge. We define the free propagators of the fields of the theory by using the Leibbrandt-Mandelstam prescription --which allows Wick rotation and is consistent with power-counting-- and regularize its Green functions with the help of a family of regulators which explicitly preserve the infinitesimal vector Grassmann symmetry of the theory. We also show that in perturbation theory the nonvanishing Green functions of the elementary fields of the theory are products of the free propagators.Comment: In memory of Professor G. Leibbrand

Duality cascades and duality walls

We recast the phenomenon of duality cascades in terms of the Cartan matrix associated to the quiver gauge theories appearing in the cascade. In this language, Seiberg dualities for the different gauge factors correspond to Weyl reflections. We argue that the UV behavior of different duality cascades depends markedly on whether the Cartan matrix is affine ADE or not. In particular, we find examples of duality cascades that can't be continued after a finite energy scale, reaching a "duality wall", in terminology due to M. Strassler. For these duality cascades, we suggest the existence of a UV completion in terms of a little string theory.Comment: harvmac, 24 pages, 4 figures. v2: references added. v3: reference adde

Configuration Complexities of Hydrogenic Atoms

The Fisher-Shannon and Cramer-Rao information measures, and the LMC-like or shape complexity (i.e., the disequilibrium times the Shannon entropic power) of hydrogenic stationary states are investigated in both position and momentum spaces. First, it is shown that not only the Fisher information and the variance (then, the Cramer-Rao measure) but also the disequilibrium associated to the quantum-mechanical probability density can be explicitly expressed in terms of the three quantum numbers (n, l, m) of the corresponding state. Second, the three composite measures mentioned above are analytically, numerically and physically discussed for both ground and excited states. It is observed, in particular, that these configuration complexities do not depend on the nuclear charge Z. Moreover, the Fisher-Shannon measure is shown to quadratically depend on the principal quantum number n. Finally, sharp upper bounds to the Fisher-Shannon measure and the shape complexity of a general hydrogenic orbital are given in terms of the quantum numbers.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, accepted i

Disorder and thermally driven vortex-lattice melting in La{2-x}Sr{x}CuO{4} crystals

Magnetization measurements in La{2-x}Sr{x}CuO{4} crystals indicate vortex order-disorder transition manifested by a sharp kink in the second magnetization peak. The transition field exhibits unique temperature dependence, namely a strong decrease with temperature in the entire measured range. This behavior rules out the conventional interpretation of a disorder-driven transition into an entangled vortex solid phase. It is shown that the transition in La{2-x}Sr{x}CuO{4} is driven by both thermally- and disorder-induced fluctuations, resulting in a pinned liquid state. We conclude that vortex solid-liquid, solid-solid and solid to pinned-liquid transitions are different manifestations of the same thermodynamic order-disorder transition, distinguished by the relative contributions of thermal and disorder-induced fluctuations.Comment: To be published in phys. Rev. B Rapid Com

The Minimal Model of Nonbaryonic Dark Matter: A Singlet Scalar

We propose the simplest possible renormalizable extension of the Standard Model - the addition of just one singlet scalar field - as a minimalist model for non-baryonic dark matter. Such a model is characterized by only three parameters in addition to those already appearing within the Standard Model: a dimensionless self-coupling and a mass for the new scalar, and a dimensionless coupling, \lambda, to the Higgs field. If the singlet is the dark matter, these parameters are related to one another by the cosmological abundance constraint, implying that the coupling of the singlet to the Higgs field is large, \lambda \sim O(0.1 - 1). Since this parameter also controls couplings to ordinary matter, we obtain predictions for the elastic cross section of the singlet with nuclei. The resulting scattering rates are close to current limits from both direct and indirect searches. The existence of the singlet also has implications for current Higgs searches, as it gives a large contribution to the invisible Higgs width for much of parameter space. These scalars can be strongly self-coupled in the cosmologically interesting sense recently proposed by Spergel and Steinhardt, but only for very low masses (< 1 GeV), which is possible only at the expense of some fine-tuning of parameters.Comment: 26 pages, latex. Minor revisions, few references adde